Christina Baker Kline

Christina Baker Kline is a best-selling author who lives in Montclair. Her most recent book, A Piece of the World [William Morrow, 2017], was released this year to wide acclaim. The book was inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting, Christina’s World, and imagines the life of the woman in the painting. Kline, a Yale graduate who meticulously researched the era and the artist, offers an unsparing look at the hardscrabble life in a coastal town in Maine, and the book offers a vivid rendering of the complicated relationship between artist and muse. Kline is the author of seven novels, including the 2013 runaway best-seller Orphan Train, the story of an Irish immigrant girl sent from New York to the Midwest to an uncertain destiny. This year, Kline is engaged in an energetic author tour, including a stop in Ocean City, NJ this October. (Wyeth was born in 1917, and Kline has been the focus of many centennial celebrations.) And, if you’re in Montclair, you might spot Kline at any number of neighborhood coffee shops. She’s already at work on her next book, set in Australia. Kline scribbles out the first draft of her novels longhand, on legal tablets. A complete schedule of events is available on her website, christinabakerkline.com.